


An afternoon away

by j_gabrielle



Category: Inception (2010), Skyfall (2012) - Fandom, White Collar
Genre: Dysfunctional Family, Established Relationship, Family, Fluff, Happy Ending, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-13
Updated: 2012-11-13
Packaged: 2017-11-18 14:18:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/561976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/j_gabrielle/pseuds/j_gabrielle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><a href="http://makemeintoshoesplz.tumblr.com">makemeintoshoesplz</a> over on Tumblr posted this;</p>
<p>
  <i>Headcanon: Q and Neal are Arthur and Eame’s kids</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>Darlings, </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>what if both Q and Neal are Arthur and Eames’ children??</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>Come on, the two’s taste in suits (and men) and their badass-ness obviously are influenced by their parents wwww</i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>I can totally imagine that happening. </i>
</p>
<p>
  <i>Will someone write me some fics about it? <br/></i>
</p>
<p>How could I resist?</p>
            </blockquote>





	An afternoon away

“I could make those records disappear, you know?” Q says, relaxing into his seat, lifting his cup and drinking the juice. “I would need access to a secure terminal, but it is possible.”

Neal leans back on the couch, smiling around the rim of his own cup. “You’re working for the British Secret Service. And you need a secure terminal? Baby bro, you could _hack_ into said system. Or is it just too hard?” He teases, “And by the way, is that our family trait finally blooming in you?” He grins when Q sputters.

“Out of all of us, I’m the only one with a legitimate occupation, albeit a clandestine one.”

“Yes. One that assigns alphabetical codenames for their employees and has an amazing garage of cars for said employees to terrorise the locals with.” Eames says laughingly, walking into the room with two plates of spaghetti.

Arthur is close behind him, laden with plates of his own. “And then there is also the matter of assigning their, what do they call it again?” He frowns playfully. “Blunt instruments with numerical coding? Of which there is a sub-section double-oh assignation that we normal people aren’t supposed to know about?”

Neal grins, leering at his brother, “And of which, a certain double-oh has captured the eye of my little baby brother?”

Q buries half his face in his glass, looking away as he feels the eyes of his family on him.

He never really had an easy relationship with the other men of his family; the three of them were very subtle in their disappointment that Q had not gone into, what they’d call it, the family business. But it was there. The tension was still there, though it had been years. But it was more of a quiet simmer buried under layers and layers of things that each family member had done and the others had not approved.

Neal was a thief, the beeping tracker on his ankle a constant reminder of the fact that his current freedom was conditional, hard fought for and every move he made was monitored closely, every record with even a slight mention of his real name a closely guarded thing. His fathers, Arthur and Eames, could never stay in one city for longer than a week. This was nothing new. Half of his childhood had been spent on planes, in cars, living in strange rooms and sleeping in stranger places. He could never bring himself to regret it, though.

Q catches the glint of sunlight reflecting off the glass pane of a photo frame. It is the picture with creases and folds, with dog-eared corners. Neal and he were probably around 14 and 6 respectively. Arthur is carrying him in one arm, Eames grinning next to him with Neal squashed in the middle. If he remembered correctly, Cobb had taken it for them, Mal just off camera contorting her face into silly and sillier expressions. He smiles for a moment, wistful. He misses her, the person who was like a mother and an older sister wrapped into one.

“Come on, baby bro.” Neal puts a hand on his shoulder. “Dinner is waiting and you know how Dad gets when his food gets cold.” He smiles, as if he knows what he’s thinking.

Q draws the short straw on dish duty, huffing protests half-heartedly. The rest of his family is lounging on his parents’ sofa, satiated and relaxed. It hasn’t been this way between all of them in a very long time, and Q is keen to preserve the mood.

“You know we’re proud of you, right?” Eames says as he comes into the kitchen, leaning back against the fridge.

Q doesn’t say anything, focusing on washing up the last of the plates. “It’s just hard sometimes, Pa.” He confesses, quietly. “Knowing that we can’t see each other all the time, knowing that I can’t legally claim that you are my fathers…”

“Hey, hey now.” Eames puts a hand over Q’s. He clears his throat, dropping his voice into a gravelly baritone, “Family don’t end in blood, son.”

Q scoffs, a smile spreading, “A Supernatural reference. Really, Pa?”

Eames grins, bumping his shoulder. “Don’t knock it. It was appropriate.” They laugh, putting the dishes on the rack to dry.

“What time do you need to leave?” Arthur asks when they come over to the living area. Eames takes a seat on Arthur’s left, wrapping his arms around him. Q can’t quite help the scrunching of his nose and the mock gagging motion when his fathers lean into each other and kiss. Turning to his right, he sees Neal doing the same thing. Both brothers laugh, getting into an impromptu foot fight.

“I have to leave in about—Hey!—I have to leave in an hour or so.” Q chuckles when he lands a particularly sharp kick to Neal’s thigh.

“Do you need us to drive you to the airport?” Eames asks, gently rubbing the back of Arthur’s hand.

Q takes a deep swallow from the bottle of beer that Neal offers him. “Nah. Someone’s coming to pick me up.” And before his parents could switch into panic mode, he adds, “It’s alright. They think I’m half way across town.”

Neal frowns, “So… Who is coming to get you, then?”

“Just someone I met in a gallery. He’s harmless like an angry, battle scarred tom cat yowling at the moon.” He can see his parents formulating a plan to dig up the identity of his mysterious stranger, his brother already thinking of the contacts (that Q does not know about. Honest) he can call on. “So you’re coming into town next month?” He quickly asks before his fathers could plot any further.

Arthur smirks, seeing through his ploy, but letting it slide. “The 18th and we can make our way down from Heathrow. Will you be free then?”

Q nods, leaning into Arthur’s embrace. It’s hard, having to keep your family a secret, keeping a big part of who you were hidden. He feels Neal come over and fall into their family pile, smiling at the sereneness he feels.

Ever since Neal was a teenager, it had been obvious the road he was going to take in life. Q was not saddened by that fact. He loved his brother, although these days they did not talk as often as he would’ve liked. He gets to see their fathers more often; seeing as they favour the Continent over anywhere else in the world. He might be the Quartermaster, but he is a son and brother first and foremost. Wherever they were, as long as they got in touch with him, Q would be on his way to them. He only wishes he could be in New York more often.

They are important. They were the last persons alive who knew his name—his real name.

Q makes a silent vow to himself to come by more often.

“Neal, don’t you need to be somewhere?” Eames says suddenly.

“Ah shit. I was supposed to be meeting Peter and Elizabeth at the restaurant half-an-hour ago.” His older brother gets up, and Q releases himself from his father’s arms. The mood was broken, and Q found himself wishing for that pocket of time again.

“Bring them around next time okay? We want to meet the people who make you happy.” Eames pulls his eldest son into a bear hug. “And you too, boy.” He smirks at Q’s direction.

They walk down the stairs to the street together. “Bye.” Neal says, looking at each of them in turn. He makes a move to cross the street, when he turns back and pulls them all into a hug. “Take care, you guys. I love you all, so try not to worry too much about me. And bro,” Neal turns his blue eyes to him, smiling. “Look out for an email in 3 days.” He winks, waving one last time. Q watches Neal disappear into the crowd, his fathers a strong presence by his side.

“Come on.” Eames slips an arm around his shoulder, guiding them to the nearby park. They walked under the shade of the trees, watching families coming out in droves to cling on to the last days of the summer holiday.

Q walks in front of his fathers, looking over his shoulder to smile at the bubble that they have carved for themselves. They were in their own world. Q wonders if it were possible to have that for him someday. He spots a familiar head of short blond hair waiting by the bridge. Smiling, heart beating faster, he turns to his fathers. “I’m going to head off now. My ride is here.” He says, unable to stop the happy feeling welling up in him. “I’ll see you soon.” He hugs them both in turn, pressing a kiss to Arthur’s cheek, turning and jogging away.

“You’re early.” He comes to a stop in front of him. James smirks, coming close to wrap his arms around him, leaning down and pressing their lips together.

“I am. I just missed you, that’s all.” James smiles, leaning in for another kiss. “You ready?” He asks, pulling away to take Q’s hand into his own.

“Yeah, I am.” Q grins, pulling him along.

Arthur and Eames watch their interaction, watching as the stranger kissed their youngest son, pulling him into a hug. It was extremely intimate and they were both torn between cooing and growling angrily.

“You want to head back and do some digging about that man?” Eames whispers close to Arthur’s ear. “Husband?”

“Sounds like a good idea, husband.”

“Good. Because that’s what we’ll do in about two hours. After a round or two.” Arthur laughs as Eames waggles his eyebrows suggestively. Letting the man hold him close as they walked home together.

**Author's Note:**

> To makemeintoshoesplz,
> 
> I hope this fulfills what you wanted?

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [An Afternoon Away Banner](https://archiveofourown.org/works/886867) by [TouchoftheWind](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TouchoftheWind/pseuds/TouchoftheWind)




End file.
